Series Shifts to Manchester Tied at One Game Apiece

NORFOLK, Va. – After splitting the first two games of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Norfolk Scope Arena last weekend, the Norfolk Admirals and Manchester Monarchs will reconvene in New Hampshire this week to decide the best-of-five opening round Calder Cup Playoff series.

The series resumes from the Verizon Wireless Arena with Game 3 on Wednesday night and Game 4 on Friday night. If necessary, a decisive Game 5 will also be at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Saturday night.

All remaining games in Norfolk’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Series against Manchester will be shown at the Chesapeake Square Mall location of Big Woody’s Bar and Grill, 4200 Portsmouth Blvd., in Chesapeake, Va. The watch parties are sponsored by ITAC.

Norfolk went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill on both Friday and Saturday nights. The Admirals did not have a perfect penalty kill with seven or more opportunities during a game in the 2011-12 regular season.

The Admirals have been shorthanded 14 times in the playoffs – tops in the AHL. Rochester, Houston and Bridgeport have also been shorthanded 14 times in the playoffs, although they have played three games.

Norfolk, which out-scored its opponents, 101-56, in the third period during the regular season, has been out-scored, 5-0, in the third period during the playoffs.

The Admirals have out-scored the Monarchs, 4-0, in the second period during in the series so far.

Alexandre Picard recorded two goals on Saturday in Game 2 to become the first Norfolk player to record multiple goals in a playoff game since Ajay Baines on May 1, 2005, at Philadelphia. No player has recorded a hat trick for the Norfolk Admirals in Calder Cup Playoff history.

Killorn recorded his first pro/AHL/Admirals playoff points with two assists on Saturday night.

Jeff Dimmen recorded his first pro/AHL/Admirals playoff point with an assist on Saturday night.

Radko Gudas, who has missed only seven Admirals games the last two years, did not play either of the first two games of the playoffs due to illness.

On Friday night, 5,720 fans watched the Admirals play Game 1 against the Monarchs, setting an AHL

Admirals playoff attendance record. They then upped that record to 5,774 on Saturday night for Game 2. The previous record was 4,324 set on April 27, 2007, in Game 5 of the East Division Semifinals against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Norfolk leads the Eastern Conference and ranks fourth overall in average playoff attendance at 5,747.

The Admirals won their final 13 consecutive road games to end the 2011-12 regular season.

Norfolk lost back-to-back road games only once during the 2011-12 regular season (Nov. 4 at Albany, Nov. 5 at Bridgeport).

ADMIRALS VS. MANCHESTER MONARCHS NOTES

Norfolk and Manchester did not meet during the 2011-12 regular season. The teams last met in the 2010-11 season when both the Admirals and Monarchs won two of four games.

Manchester enters the playoffs in the same position as their NHL parent club, the Los Angeles Kings. The Monarchs are the #8 seed in the AHL’s Eastern Conference, while the Kings are the #8 seed in the NHL’s Western Conference. Los Angeles defeated the #1 seeded Vancouver Canucks in five games in their Western Conference Quarterfinals series.

Manchester went 10-4-2-0 in its final 16 games to qualify for the post-season.

Justin Azevedo (22g, 22a, 50pts) led Manchester in regular season scoring and is second on the Monarchs' all-time post-season scoring list (25gp, 6g, 14a, 20pts).

Manchester leading rookie scorer Linden Vey (19g, 24a, 43pts) was the WHL's leading scorer last season, edging Norfolk's Tyler Johnson by one point for the honor. Vey posted 116 points (46g, 70a) in 69 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2010-11 while Johnson posted 115 points (53g, 62a) in 71 games with the Spokane Chiefs.

The team with the lead entering the third period during this playoff series has a good chance of winning the game, as Norfolk finished the regular season 35-1-1-0 when leading after two periods while Manchester was 25-0-0-1.

The Monarchs had the AHL's 21st-ranked power play (47/303, 15.5%) and 8th-ranked penalty kill (279/332, 84.0%). Manchester led the AHL with 15 shorthanded goals.

The Monarchs (208 goals allowed) trailed only the Admirals (180 goals allowed) in defense in the Eastern Conference.

Manchester joined Binghamton as the only AHL teams to have two goaltenders each appear in 40 or more games in the regular season: Jeff Zatkoff (44GPI, 21-17-1, 2.49 GAA, .920 SV%) and Martin Jones (41GPI, 18-17-2, 2.60GAA, .919SV%).

Two current Admirals are former Monarchs. Brandon Segal posted six goals and 14 points in 21 games with Manchester in 2009-10 – his only season in the Granite State. Richard Petiot, a Los Angeles Kings draft pick, played most of his first three professional seasons with the Monarchs, recording seven goals and 23 points in 116 games with Manchester from 2005-06 – 2007-08.

No current Monarchs have played for Norfolk.

Norfolk defenseman Jean-Philippe Cote began the 2011-12 season with the Monarchs' ECHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, under an ECHL contract.

FLORIDA EVERBLADES UPDATELast Friday, Lightning-contracted goaltender Pat Nagle stopped 18 of 19 shots to lead the Florida Everblades, the ECHL affiliate of the Admirals, to a 2-1 win over the Elmira Jackals in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals series. Florida won the series, four games to one, to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2012 Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Everblades will face the Kalamazoo Wings beginning on Friday night.

ON THE RADIO/INTERNETAll games will air live on "The Game" 102.1-FM, 1490-AM and online at 1021TheGame.com. AHL Live will also carry online video of every Admirals game on a pay-per-view or season pass basis. Fans can log in to watch, listen or get more information about AHL Live’s online audio and video features at ahllive.com.